Improvement in rail wat-tracks



GEORGE PALMER, OF i LITTLE S'IOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

Leners Parent No, 86,583, ma Famer@ 2,1869.

IMPROVEMENT 1N nAInWAYTRAcKs.

ToV all whom it may concern:

Be it known thateI, GEORGE PALMER, of Littlestown, in the county of Adams, and in the State of Penn! Sylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-'li'acks; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in a device which will enable a train of cars, if accidentally thrown from,

all of which will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my -invention appertains, to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and-oper ation, referring to the annexed drawings, which form a part of this specicaticn, and in which- Figure l' is a plan view, and

Figures 2 and show a peculiar kind of bolts and nuts employed by me in the construction of my invention. Y

A A represent the cross-ties, on which the rails B B are secured in any of the known and usual ways.V

At the joints ofthe rails B B, on the outer side, are secured fish-pieces O O,.by the use of which the' usual railroad-chairs are dispensed with.

The fish-pieces O O, which may be made of wood or metal, or both combined, are secured to the rails B B by means ofjbolts a a passing through the same. These bolts are fastened by a self-locking nut, of the following construction: It is composed of threepieces, namely, a square, round, or oval piece of' rubber, l), with a hole through its centre. This piece of rubber is placed on the screw-end of the' bolt a; then a washer, c, is put on top thereof. rIhe washer c is notched at the sides, as'seen in fig. 3. The nut proper d is then placed on top of the washer c. The corners of the nut d are provided withprojections corresponding with the notches in the sides of the washer.

It will be seen that, when the nut d is screwed on to the end of the bolt a, the rubber, b, will yield to the pressure when the projecting corners of the nut pass over the corners of the washer; but, as soon as the corners of the nut come opposite the notches in the sides of the washer, the rubber will press the washer against the nut, completely locking it.

The sh-pieces C C are so constructed that, at the joints of the rails B B, they are exactly level with the upper surface of the rails, but form an inclined plane, e, on each side of said joint, which inclined plane is protected on the outer edge by a ange, f.

It is evident that, when the fish-pieces G O are used at the joints of the rails, it would only be necessary to provide similar pieces on the inner side-of the rails to Y `side wheel on to the main track on that side.

y same time, the outside wheel Will run up on the top,

bringany train of cars which has accidentally run o the track back again on the'same. For this purpose, I place, on the inner side of the joints of the rail B B, a fish-piece, D, which, at the edge nearest to the rails, is cut out deep enough to allow the ange ofthe wheels to pass, but, on each side of the joint,forms an inclined plane, g, corresponding with the inclined plane e on the lieb-piece G. Y j

The inner edge of the iish-piece D is protected by a flange, h, which, at the joint of the rails B B, is so close to said rails that it leaves just room enough for the iange of the wheels to pass.

Ifthe fish-pieces,'constructed as above described, `are connected by means of old rails, wooden scantlings,

or anything'of suitable nature, we have at once a safe and eifectual means by which a train of cars that has run off the track will be brought back on to the same, and the danger of loss of life and property usually attendant on such disasters will be entirely obviated. For instance, if a rail should break, and the train be thrown from the track, it will continue to run along these connections spoken of, until it arrives at the first joint of the rails, which, of course, is vonly a short distance. Here the car, or train of cars, will run up the inclined planes e g, and the flange h will press or forcethe in- At the and across the main rail on the other side, and drop down on to the same. l

Around the curve of a track, I place a rail, E, which is higher than the rails of the track, on the inner side of the rails, which arrangement will eectually prevent cars from running off the track, as the high rail E -will keep the wheels in their proper'positions, even if 4one of the rails of the main track should happen to break.

The bolts I use in fastening my rails, fish-pieces, &c.,

to the cross-ties are of the peculiar construction shown in iig. 2. A common bolt is twisted at the end, and the Hat edges, formed by such twisting, are notched-er cut with teeth pointing upward, so that, when the bolt is inserted, these teeth will catch in the wood, and the bolt cannot work out.

Having thus fully described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

' In combination with the rails of a railroad-track, the i 

